April 16, 2012 | VOL. XCIII ISS. LIV
04.16.2012 |
Employing blind sports writers SINCE 1918
Year in Review U-PASS SUMMER BLUES a year like any oTher . Monthly U-Passes only available during enrolled terms excepT When iT Wasn’T
U
2011-2012 was not a year of wild change or giant demonstrations. The university moved forward on a number of issues that had stymied them for some time, folded to public pressure in other places, and watched as their sports teams did better than other sports
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teams. Sort of like most years. For most students, it was another year of attending classes, making friends and, in the middle of February, reflecting on how the death of a quiet elderly man with a chair and a newspaper could silently touch so many people.
THE UBYSSEY
SCHOOL’S OUT U FOR SUMMER I GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
sTUdenTs declare
COURTESY UBC ATHLETICS
Five years oF Women’s
vicTory on gage soUTh
volleyball dominance
BC’s land use department, Campus and Community Planning (CCP), has been looking for places to increase housing density on campus. They slated the area around the bus loop, known as the Gage South “Area Under Review,” as a site for future housing that would include faculty and families. In September, a small group of students launched a petition to keep Gage South as an area for student housing only. Because of its proximity to MacInnes Field, where outdoor concerts are held in September and April, the worry was that including non-student housing in the area would take away the freedom of students to use the space. After many contentious consultations and accusations that CCP was operating in a non-transparent and manipulative manner, CCP decided in March to recommend that the Board of Governors designate Gage South as “Academic.” This would keep the area’s housing for students alone. The student leaders of the movement, the most vocal of whom were Neal Yonson and Sean Cregten, declared victory.
n November, we ran a long feature that examined whether the UBC women’s volleyball team was the greatest dynasty in the university’s athletic history. If there was any doubt, this year’s performance may have erased it. The T-Birds entered the Canada West final as the No. 1 seed, but were upset by the University of Alberta Pandas Is it fithad foralready schools in five sets. Yet they clinched their spot in the nationals, and still entered the tournament as a in 2012? force to be reckoned with. In the national championship game they once again faced off against the Pandas, and, spurred on by a spectacular fourth set, emerged victorious. This was the T-Birds’ fifth straight championship, a massive accomplishment in a very competitive league. UBC will only lose two players from this year’s team, giving them a very good chance for another championship in 2013. One of the players leaving is Kyla Richey, who now joins four other former Thunderbirds on Canada’s national team as they vie for a spot in the Olympics.
We break down the 2011–2012 year
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POV FEST
Travers Wimble
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
Ubc commUniTy rallies
aroUnd rUmana monzUr
L
ast June, UBC Master’s student Rumana Monzur was brutally attacked and blinded by her husband while at home in Bangladesh. The story became international news, and the campus mobilized in widespread support for Monzur. A university-wide fundraising campaign aimed towards her recovery hit $61,000 by late July. The university reserved housing for Monzur, her two parents and five-year-old daughter. UBC also arranged financial support and made accommodations to help the now-blind student finish her thesis. Despite multiple surgeries in Vancouver, Monzur has not regained her eyesight. In December, her husband died in custody at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
O
passes aWay
n the evening of February 8, Firehall 10 responded to a call that somebody was lying motionless near the junction of University Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall. When they arrived, they found a deceased male who was soon identified as Travers Wimble. Wimble, who was homeless, had occupied a chair in the SUB every day for at least six years, reading newspapers and drinking coffee. The chair was empty on February 9. When students realized he had passed away, the outpouring was unprecedented. Within hours of the news breaking, a few newspapers and a Starbucks coffee cup were
placed on his chair. Then, a bouquet of flowers and a candle. By the end of the day the chair had become a monument that attracted the attention of every passerby, and the news continued to spread. More information about Wimble slowly emerged, including that his wife and daughter had been killed in accidents years ago. The story crashed The Ubyssey’s servers, sending more than ten times our daily readership to the site. A memorial is now being built for Wimble, as a tribute to his daily, but quiet, presence in the lives of students. As our story put it: “He didn’t have a home. But he had a community.”
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Film students show off their year-end projects
SLIP SLIDIN’ peeked inTeresT phoTo creeping AWAY I
GEOFF LISTER/THE UBYSSEY
t is almost impossible to guess what will captivate the attention of students on any given day, but an anonymous photo-sharing site did the job earlier this year. Peeked Interest, a website that allows you to upload a photo of an attractive stranger in the hope that they will see it and respond, was launched by UBC student Frans Kouwenhoven and former University of Victoria student Darryl McIvor. The Ubyssey’s story about Peeked Interest quickly went viral after being posted in March, racking up nearly 5000 page views since then. The website has now been taken offline to work on improvements over the summer, but it reports that 450 photos were uploaded over a six-week trial period and 45 people reached out to a submitter after recognizing themselves in the photo.
$50,000 slide still on the table for new SUB
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